Two ''suspects'' in Xinjiang violence killed by police in China

Beijing, Aug 2: Two "suspects" allegedly involved in recent attacks in China's troubled Xinjiang province, were shot dead by police near Kashgar city, where 20 people were killed in violence blamed on militants trained in Pakistan.

Memtieli Tiliwaldi, 29 and Turson Hasan, 34, who were wanted in connection with the case, were killed on Monday in the corn fields in the suburb of Kashgar, local officials said.

With their death, the number of people, including militants, killed in the recent violence goes up to 22. Police had issued arrest warrants for the two yesterday and announced a reward of 100,000 yuan (USD 15,384) for information that could lead to their arrests.

The attacks allegedly orchestrated by the East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM) were directed against the Han settlers from the Chinese mainland.

Xinjiang's capital Urumqi witnessed massive riots against Hans in 2009, that left almost 200 people dead.

In two violent incidents last weekend, 14 civilians and six militants were killed in Kashgar, throwing the city into panic.

On Sunday, six civilians were killed, and 15 others -- including three policemen -- were injured after attackers set fire to a restaurant and started randomly killing civilians on a major shopping street.

While five suspects were shot dead by police, two fled the scene. The Sunday attack was the second violent case in Kashgar over the weekend after eight civilians were killed in an attack on Saturday.

Firing was also reported from many parts of the city throughout the day. In a separate incident, unidentified gunmen attacked a textile factory late night in the Gulshan-e-Maymar area on the outskirts of the city and torched around 50 motorcycles parked outside the factory.

The mayhem continued for half an hour before the police and rangers arrived to control the situation.

Factory owner Mohammad Ashraf told reporters that the attack took place suddenly while workers were inside the factory and they remained holed up due to the indiscriminate firing by the gunmen who set the bikes on fire.

According to media reports, in the month of July 313 people had been killed in the violence.

A recent report from the HRCP said 1,138 people were killed in Karachi in the first six months of 2011, of whom 490 were victims of political, ethnic and sectarian violence.

In another statement issued on Monday, the HRCP called for a political solution to the violence in Karachi.

"Karachi is in the grip of a multi-sided wave of insecurity-driven political, ethnic and sectarian polarization that has greatly undermined its tradition of tolerance and good-neighbourliness," it said.

"While gangs of land-grabbers and mafias have tried to exploit the breakdown of law and order, they do not appear to be the main directors of the horrible game of death and destruction; that distinction belongs to more powerful political groups and it is they who hold the key to peace."

PTI